Mame
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- For the arcade emulator, see MAME. Mame is also another name for the coelacanth.
Mame is a Broadway musical based on the novel Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis, with a book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee and score by Jerry Herman.
The plot revolves around eccentric Mame Dennis, whose madcap life is disrupted when her deceased brother's son Patrick is entrusted to her care. Rather than bow to convention, Mame introduces the boy to her free-wheeling lifestyle, instilling in him her favorite credo, "Life is a banquet, and most poor sons-of-bitches are starving to death." Also figuring in the story line are Mame's personal secretary Gooch and her "bosom buddy," Tallulah Bankhead-type actress Vera Charles. Mame eventually meets and marries Beauregard Jackson Pickett Burnside, a Southern aristocrat with a Georgia plantation called Peckerwood. Young Patrick is shipped off to boarding school, and Mame and Beau travel the world on an endless honeymoon that finally ends when Beau falls off an Alp. Mame returns home to discover Patrick has become a priggish snob engaged to an empty-headed debutante. She brings Patrick to his senses in time, and introduces him to the woman who eventually will become his wife. As the story ends, Mame is preparing to take Patrick's young son Michael to India.
After five previews, the original production - directed by Gene Saks and choreographed by Onna White - opened on May 24, 1966 at the Winter Garden Theatre. Three years later, it transferred to The Broadway Theatre, where it remained until closing. Between the two venues, it ran a total of 1508 performances.
The opening night cast included Angela Lansbury, Charles Braswell, Bea Arthur, Jane Connell, and Frankie Michaels. Celeste Holm, Ann Miller, Jane Morgan, and Janis Paige succeeded Lansbury in the title role.
The 1969 West End production starred Ginger Rogers.
Contents |
[edit] Song list
Act I
- St. Bridget
- It's Today
- Open a New Window
- The Man in the Moon (is a Lady)
- My Best Girl
- We Need a Little Christmas
- The Fox Hunt
- Mame
Act II
- Mame (Reprise)
- My Best Girl (Reprise)
- Bosom Buddies
- Gooch's Song
- That's How Young I Feel
- If He Walked into My Life
- It's Today (Reprise)
- My Best Girl (Reprise)
- Open a New Window (Reprise)
In 1966, Bobby Darin, Louis Armstrong, and Herb Alpert all charted in the United States and Canada with their cover records of the musical's title song. Eydie Gormé had a huge success with her recording of "If He Walked into My Life", for which she received a 1967 Grammy Award for Best Female Vocal Performance.
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Tony Award for Best Musical (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Composer and Lyricist (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical (Lansbury, winner)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Michaels, winner)
- Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Arthur, winner)
- Tony Award Best Scenic Design (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Choreography (nominee)
- Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (nominee)
[edit] Film adaptation
A 1974 film version of the musical, with a screenplay by Paul Zindel directed by Saks, starred Lucille Ball, Robert Preston, Bruce Davison, Kirby Furlong, Joyce Van Patten, and Arthur and Connell repeating their stage roles. Released at a time when movie musicals were long out of fashion, it was a critical and commercial failure. Reviews of Ball's performance in particular, citing her age and lack of singing voice, were brutally unkind. It was the last motion picture made by the actress, a sad end to a forty-year career in film.
[edit] Broadway revival
Despite the presence of Angela Lansbury, a much-heralded revival proved to be a commercial bust. After seven previews, it opened on July 24, 1983 at the George Gershwin Theatre, where it ran for only 41 performances.
